Monday, April 20, 2009

What a month!

We have had a busy month so far, but it's been fun! I need to get these moments recorded so I don't forget them among all the chaos so be prepared for a long post!
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First of all, I forgot to add some more details from our Star Valley trip. On Friday night when I was sick, Gpa T and Shelly took the girls outside to play in the hot tub. Brailee was quite the character from what they told me. Apparently, she would walk around the seats of the hot tub and when she knew there was a dip coming up, she would say, "New trick!" and then she would go under and splash to the top happily - what a llittle fishy!
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Also, as you may have seen in the pictures, Brianna had fun playing with the stuffed animals upstairs - she would line them up on the rail and once in a while one would plummet to the ground below. Brailee enjoyed playing Diego with all of the animals in trouble ;-)
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Brailee was also fascinated by all of the animal heads on the walls at Gpa T and Shelly's house. There were deer, elk, and a few African animals. She kept calling the deer 'reindeer' and then one day she finally said to me, "Mom, I think the reindeer are dead." and I told her yes, they were, and then she said, "Can I say hi to them?" so then she cheerfully said hello and never seemed too worried about it. Brailee was sleeping when we saw the elk in Alpine, but as we drove through Jackson she saw some elk statues on a rock, and said, "Look Mom, I see reindeer!" So I told her they were elk and she said, "Oh, elk reindeer!"
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On the way home, since the girls didn't sleep as long as they did on the ride there, we played some games in the car. We found shapes in the clouds, played I Spy, and told knock knock jokes. The girls' favorite knock knock joke goes like this:
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Interupting Cow
Interupt...
...MOO!
and another one they always tell goes like this:
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Isabelle
Isabelle who?
Isabelle broken? I had to knock
Brailee had fun copying all of our knock knock jokes, but then she came up with her own by combining the two above. She said:
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
'Rupting Cow
Interupting Cow who?
'Rupting cow the doorbell's broken!
Then she would just throw back her head and laugh - silly girl. When we got back to town, as soon as Brailee realized that we were going home, she was SO upset. She wanted to go back to see Gpa T and Shelly. The girls all had fun and can't wait to visit again.
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During the week of Spring Break, David switched to a new work schedule, which I didn't think I'd like. When he first started working out there almost 5 years ago, he worked 8 days and then had 6 off. We liked all of his days off, but he only had every other weekend off, so he missed a lot of church, especially if we traveled anywhere on his days off. Then, right after Brailee was born, he switched to working Monday through Thursday, and we really liked having a three day weekend all the time. Well, now he has to start working Fridays again, but that means that he gets to come home sooner every day. It has been so nice having him home at a decent hour - he gets to spend more time with the kids. Before this new schedule, he'd usually get home no sooner than 6:30 so he'd barely have time for dinner and a shower, then it was time to get the girls ready for bed. Some nights he wouldn't get home until after the girls were in bed, so it could be a few days before he would actually see them since he leaves at 5:30 in the morning, before they even wake up. Plus, on the nights he had meetings, he'd have to rush to shower, eat, and then head out the door, so it made for hectic nights. So far I'm really liking this new schedule, especially since soccer has started. Here is a picture of David and Trysten snoozing outside - enjoying the new work schedule! I hope David doesn't get too upset with me posting this picture ;-P
On Monday Kaylee and Brianna got to go to the new school! They started at the old school and had a closing ceremony and then walked to the new school. I loaded T and Brailee up in the bike trailer/stroller and carried Trysten in my Moby wrap and we walked with them. It was exciting for the kids. So now Kaylee and Brianna walk to school in the mornings and on the days they don't have dance class, they get to walk home - it's so nice now that I don't have to wake up Brailee or Trysten to take the girls to school! Here are some pics of the girls in the new school - each kid got a new T-shirt from the school Parent Group for the new school, how cool is that!



Here they are walking to school - it was starting to rain that morning, but they still wanted to walk - luckily they had umbrellas!
Monday night was Brianna's first soccer game. She is on the same team as her cousin Damon, and her Aunt Jamie is the team coach. Tuesday night was Kaylee's first soccer game and she is on the same team as her cousin Isaac, so it's been fun! Here we are Wednesday night at the games - it was so cold for the first week of games, but it should be warmer this week.
On Wednesday night, we went to bed with this going on outside...

...woke up at 5 then next morning to this...

...and by the time the girls headed to school it looked like this - the snow was so wet and heavy...

Kaylee's soccer game was canceled because of the snow so we actually had a free night! The girls and I put this fun dinosaur together. The snow is all melted now and it's so warm outside - we just relaxed outside yesterday after church it was such a beautiful day. It's near 80 degrees today!

Dino - ROAR!


Here are the kids yesterday after church...

Trysten is starting to suck on his fist or pointer finger now. He is such a cutie and still full of smiles and giggles. We were really keeping an eye on him this last weekend. He had a junky eye towards the end of the week so on Friday I called the dr. for some eye drops. They were at lunch when I called so I left a message and right before they called me back, he had some blood in his diaper, so I mentioned it to the nurse and they had me bring the diaper into their office and told me if it happened again or if he started to look sick or run a fever to take him to the E.R. Luckily it hasn't happened again and he hasn't really acted sick, he's just been fussier than usual at naptime during the day. I went to a baby shower on Saturday and took him with me, but he just couldn't sleep or get comfortable in all the noise so he wasn't too happy and I had to leave early. Last night and then again this morning he was fussy again so I just wrapped him up in my Moby Wrap and he went right to sleep - I made two loaves of banana bread and some muffins with him snuggled right up with me.

Here is Brailee at soccer - I just love that face ;-) It was so cold for the first week of games and Kaylee's Thursday game was canceled due to the snow, so I haven't taken any good pics of the girls playing yet. I've been trying to keep Trysten warm so I've spent a lot of time sitting in the car with him. I hope to get some good pictures of Kaylee and Brianna this week.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Card Mania!

Here are some cards that I made for the birthdays and other events in January, February, and March...I just never got around to posting them until now ;-P
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Birthday card for my BIL - using It's A Guy Thing paper, and Beautiful Things and Happy Birthday stamp sets
Birthday card for another BIL - using Sarsaparilla paper, and Lovely Buckles and Happy Birthday stamp sets

Birthday card for my friend, Colette (she likes Orange) - using Abundance paper, and Treasure Life and Happy Birthday stamp sets

Birthday card for my SIL (this was part of my March Word Puzzle Workshop) - using Emporium Creative Basics paper and Moments in Time stamp set


A non-traditional Wedding card for my dad who remarried in January - using Emporium paper and Noteworthy and For Every Occassion stamp sets

Birthday card I made for my Grandpa in December - using Simple Pleasure paper and Annotations stamp set

I made this one for my SIL, Sandy, using Emporium paper, and Confidential and Happy Birthday stamp sets - but I wasn't completely thrilled with it...

...so I made this one for her instead ;-P It's a lot simpler but I like it the best. I used Emporium again (can you tell it's one of my favorites) with the Happy Birthday stamp set (another favorite and most used sets)

I used this sketch from Caardvarks
Thank you card for my mom using Citrus Leaf Textured Cardstock and Adorable Backgrounds stamp set with the Solo T


Here are some cards that the girls helped me make for their friends - they stamped and colored the Family Ties stamp images - the notebook is for Kaylee's friend who got baptized.

Whew! Well that's it for now. I will have some more cards to post a little later. Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Weekend Fun

We took off this last weekend for a fun trip to Star Valley. It was so nice to get out, especially since we haven't gone anywhere since Thanksgiving due to the winter weather and a new baby! So this was Trysten's first trip and he did great! He is such an easy going baby that it didn't change his schedule or attitude at all, it was wonderful! We left Thursday night around 7:30, a little later than planned due to a leak in the Yukon that David was trying to fix. I fed Trysten right before we left, and we picked up dinner for the girls on the way out of town and all 4 kids fell asleep and slept the entire ride - it was so nice. We actually made it to Star Valley in 4 hours, which is record time since we've had kids.
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Usually there are potty breaks every chance we get, since there are only a couple places to stop between here and there ;-) plus the kids just need a break on such a long car ride. Brailee woke up about 10 miles from our destination and let us know that she needed to go potty, so we did make one quick stop in Afton, but that was it! She did great on her first trip as a big girl - we put a pull-up on her for the ride down, just in case, but she stayed dry! On the ride home we forgot to put one on her. She slept until we got to Jackson but didn't need to go yet, and then just as we were headed over Togwottee, she needed to go. At that point, we're about 40 minutes from a potty in either direction, so we told her to hang on and I'm proud to say she made it!
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On Friday morning I woke up in so much pain - my throat and ear hurt so bad, I just knew I had an ear infection. Luckily there is a doctor there in the valley that just takes walk-ins, so I was able to get in and he put me on an antibiotic. Good ol' Dr. Perkes - he's actually the dr. that delivered my brother, so he's pretty old, but I got the meds I needed! I was pretty sick and miserable the rest of the day, so I missed out on the girls having all their fun snowmobiling and riding Ghostbuster and playing in the hot tub, but David did manage to get some pics of Kaylee and Ghostbuster for me.
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On Saturday morning, my dad and Shelly were taking the girls to Granite Hot Springs, and since Trysten is too little to ride a snomobile on a trip like that, we decided to go to Idaho Falls instead to do a little shopping. Brailee came with us because she had been complaining that her neck hurt, so we were afraid she was coming down with something and didn't want to send her snowmobiling and then swimming. She had fun shopping with us and it was different just going as a family of 4 ;-) I started feeling better that morning and could finally swallow again without it feeling like I was swallowing knives. While shopping, I finally got a new bike trailer/stroller and some Keen shoes that I've been wanting for a while - they are so comfortable and will be so nice for camping, walking, and bike rides this summer. Unfortunately, Gpa T, Shelly, Kaylee, and Brianna didn't get to go swimming after all - they got all the way up there and found out the pool has been drained for the season. So, instead they had a picnic and played around on the snowmobiles, then went back home and played in the hot tub. At least we'll know for next year that even when there is a lot of snow, they close it pretty early. Last year we went the first weekend of April, so we must have just made it in.
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We got back that night just in time for me to run into a friend's wedding reception - I haven't seen her in so long, so I was glad I got to stop by. That night Shelly made a yummy Easter dinner and then we dyed eggs with the girls - we all went to bed very late but it was a fun day!
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Easter morning the girls woke up and we made them get dressed before all of the events that day. Then we went upstairs to find their Easter baskets. The girls got some cute yard tools - rakes, gardening gloves, and hand tools that are color coordinated - Kaylee got pink, Brianna got blue, and Brailee got green. I didn't get pics of them with those yet, but I'll have plenty of opportunities as they love to help outside. After that, we went outside to hunt for eggs. The girls have hunted for eggs in the snow here plenty of times,but we never have as much snow as Star Valley. They had fun and found plenty of eggs. Shelly made another yummy meal and we had lots of family come together that morning for Easter Brunch. My dad picked up my grandparents and brought them - it was nice to see them, but sad to see how my Grandma keeps getting worse. My Grandpa looks the same as he always has! My brother and his wife came, and Shelly's kids were there, except for one, so it was one big happy blended family! I failed to get a picture of everyone together - shame on me - but I did get some pics of our side of the family.
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We didn't take the kids' Easter clothes with us since we were leaving before church, so I haven't even taken pics of them all together in their matching clothes, but I hope to within the next couple weeks. Kaylee and Brianna are playing soccer right now, so between school, dance, and soccer, I don't have much time to do it. I should have done it last week while they were on Spring Break.
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Well, there's a long update of our weekend fun - if you've made it this far, now here are some pictures!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Be Yourself

The weather has been so nice this week having the girls home for Spring Break - we've spent lots of time outside jumping on the tramp, going for walks, swinging, and even just relaxing on the porch. The only downside is I haven't taken any time during the day to do any creating. This morning, however, Trysten woke up at 4:30 to eat, then I fixed breakfast for David at 5:00 and sent him off to work, and with all of the kids asleep, I decided to play. I ended up making a few cards which I'll get around to posting - for now, here is one I made with the upcoming May SOTM, Be Yourself. This card was inspired by Laurel Seabrook - she always has such fabulous artwork - you can view her inspiration piece here. This card sketch is from i {heart} 2 stamp and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to use Laurel's idea with it. I used the Daydream paper (with a touch of black added), Black Bigger Brads, Sparkles, and Blush RicRac Ribbon on this card.

Thanks for looking!

Just had to share...

...we were sitting outside yesterday enjoying the beautiful weather and Trysten was just so happy I decided to get a little video of his happy face - he gave a good show, I think ;-) Enjoy his happy sounds!


Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Growth, Blessing, and Eggs!

We had a fun-filled weekend, along with a few disappointments - here are some pictures and updates.
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Trysten had his 2 month check-up on Friday - he is now 13 pounds, 8.2 ounces and 23 3/4 inches long! That puts him in the 90th percentile for both height and weight, compared to just the 50th at his 1 month check-up.
He also got his shots - poor guy! He did take a nice long nap after his appointment which was nice because then I was able to go outside and help David and Brailee do a little yardwork to prepare for the upcoming Easter party. We cleaned up all the tumbleweed and trash that blew into our yard this winter and raked up the leaves and stuff we missed last fall. Trysten woke up grumpy that afternoon, but after a little snack and another nap, he was back to his happy smiley self!


Saturday was Trysten's Blessing day and the Easter Party and this is what we woke up to that morning. Not much here in town, but South Pass and part of the Interstate was closed because of the weather, so my mom and her husband were unable to come. Plus, when we planned the blessing date, I thought my dad and his wife would be back from their cruise, but they didn't get back until that day, so none of my family was able to come :-( David's sister in Gillette also missed out because of bad roads.


So we had a small turnout for Trysten's Blessing, but it was still very special. Another bummer was that he didn't get to wear his special blessing outfit that my mom knit for him since she was bringing it with her. You can view his outfit here on her blog.








Then we had the Easter party in between Saturday's Conference Sessions. Since it was so wet and snowy outside, everyone was in the house - it got very noisy! The kids got all bundled up in snow boots and coats to go on the Easter Egg Hunt after lunch, which turned into a Cascarone war and snowball fight! But they had fun.





Thursday, April 2, 2009

Reflections Challenge

Here is a super simple layout that I did for the Reflections Challenge - you'd never know it was so simple as it took me forever to finally complete it ;-P For some reason I had a hard time finding the time to sit down and work on it - I kept getting sidetracked! I've been doing that a lot lately. Anyway, hopefully next week I'll be inspired to get some projects done!
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This was my brother's HS graduation almost 5 years ago - I just used Honey, Vineyard Berry, and White Daisy CS, some White Daisy Dazzling Die-Cuts that I brayered with Honey ink and covered with Liquid Glass, the Tiny Typewriter stamp set, and the title SVHS was stamped using the Building Block Alphabet set and embossed using Vineyard Berry EP.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Challenges

Hooray - I'm finally on time getting these posted! I don't have any samples done yet, but I'm hoping to get working on them soon - I've been busy getting ready for this weekend with family coming. Next week is Spring Break, so with no extra kids to babysit and a chance to let the kids sleep in with nowhere we HAVE to be, maybe I'll get a chance to play.
Here are the challenges for April - scroll down for the March Challenge results, there was a lot of awesome artwork submitted last month! Remember, everyone who participates will be entered into a drawing for a fun pack of cards from my stash!

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Cherish Challenge - Echoes pg. 40-41
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Imagine Challenge - Salsa pg. 118-119
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Reflections Challenge - Quartet - Perfect Square pg. 108
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Originals Challenge - On Your Left pg. 21

MARCH UPDATE
Congrats to Sandy who was our winning participant last month!
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Cherish Challenge - Harmony pg. 38-39
Click here to view my sample
Here is Sandy's:

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Imagine Challenge - Ensemble Piece pg. 40-41
Click here to view my sample layout
Here is Shirene's:
Here is Sandy's:
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Reflections Challenge - Main Frame Wrap Around pg. 65
Click here to view my sample layout
Here is Sandy's:

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Originals Challenge - Message In a Pocket pg. 28
Click here to view my sample

Here is Sandy's:

No Foolin'!

We have snow - with more in the forecast! I think we have had more snow storms in the last 3 weeks then we had all winter long, what's up with that!?! I'm thankful for the moisture as we've been in a drought the last few years, but in March and April I'd rather have rain! Plus this weekend we are blessing Trysten and having the DeVries Family Easter Party, so we have family traveling so I hope the roads will be safe and the weather will be nice!
Here are some more crooked smiles to brighten my dreary day ;-) I will be back later to post this month's challenges and last month's challenge update!